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Romans 15:13 - Corps - May 21,1980

3rdburglar by Wordburglar
Topic: Rom 15:13,logospedia,lp
Format: mp3
Publication Date: May 21, 1980

On Ephesians 4:25 where I want to begin tonight, or where we will begin tonight , the first part of what the Research Team gave me is the work that Walter Cummins published in our wonderful Way Magazine on "The Spoken Word." Also, as we cover Ephesians 4:28 tonight, I had all the information in front of me from another article that Walter Cummins has in the... has had in the Magazine. The first article on Ephesians 4:25 is entitled "The Spoken Word." The one on Ephesians 4:28 is "Workers for God." Both of these pieces of work by Walter are absolutely superb. And I believe that they should appear and will appear in our research journal GMIR whenever we begin publishing that. {GMIR Aramaic word meaning ' to perfect, accomplish , mature, complete, arithmetically to be divisible without any remainder.}

And I noticed again that some of the things that were stated are just so beautifully and logically presented, I'm truly thankful for, not only Walter, but the whole Research Department. I think our Biblical Research Department is just second to none. And it' s even going to be better by God' s mercy and grace next year and in years to come than it is at this time. And right now I do not believe that our Biblical Research Department needs to take a back seat for any academic institution or work in the world.

And I thought today, I have never... I've never thought of Walter Cummins in any other capacity than to be my assistant. I know Vince Finnegan, you know, on the books is my assistant. And that' s great. But I've never thought of Walter Cummins in any other capacity for so many years as always being my assistant. And I think he' s just the most wonderful person that any president could have as his assistant. And also to be chairmen of the Department of Greek, and then the coordinator of the Biblical research of The Way International. For any one man to have that position and that responsibility is an awesome reality and I'm real proud of Walter and real thankful for him. But I am also thankful for the rest of our wonderful men and women in the Research Department.

I would like for the Corps all over the country to go to the Magazine and find "The Spoken_Word," that's the title of it, dealing with Ephesians 4:25 and other scriptures, and before the next Corps meeting next week, you endeavor to master that great piece of work by Walter Cummins. It's just, you know, the spoken Word. Over fifty Greek words are used in the New Testament in connection with the faculties of utterance. Over fifty. And then he takes the most important ones and he lists them and it' s just. .. it' s just a piece of research work that you should really as a Corps master in your heart and in your life.

Ephesians 4:25 in the King James reads, Wherefore put away lyin g, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.

The ' putting away' was interesting to me again because of the Greek word aniko, a-n-i-k-o.

And this word is ' the putting away,' this word ' put away,' aniko, is the same root word as in 4:22, where we use the word ' rest,' meaning ' to rest.' Is that right? Yep, that is right. I taught you that,

didn't I? Did I or didn't I? Doesn't look right to me. It is the same root. What chapter am I missing? Am I missing anything? I don't know. Right now I'm screwed up, ha ha. First time today. You check the word again and I'll do that, too and see what I'm missing here.

But a-n-i-k-o is the word for ' putting away from you. ' To put away. And it' s the same root as the word ' rest.' I don't know where the word appears, but it's got to be in there.

Now, that word ' speak,' every man speak. That word ' speak ' is from the Greek word

laleo, l-a-l-e-long-o. And that' s where Walter' s article on "The Spoken Word"_c omes in because that is.. .he uses that word laleo in here, which I teach in Corinthians when I teach the Foundational Class. And he says the word is employed 24 times in I Corinthians chapter 14. I had forgotten that.

This word is truly significant. I couldn' t quite understand it Research Department, what  you said on page 26B 16, where you defined it ' to make vocal utterance,' ' to babble,' 'to talk,'  'to  exercise the faculty of speech without reference to the words spoken.' I just wondered if there might not be another word that could be substituted or utilized at this point. I know that Zachariah 8:16 is the quotation that is used here, or spoken of. And that Zachariah 8:16 adds force to what is said by using a quote, a quotation. That' s why my question to the Research Department is, How can it be without reference to what is spoken if it is truth plus the quotation of the Word of God that's given. It doesn't quite fit for me.

'With his neighbor' has to be a believing neighbor. This 'speak truth with his neighbor' is a figure of speech gnome, g-n-o-m-e, which simply is a citation. And that' s a citation from Zachariah 8:16.

There are a series of figures of speech, Corps, in chapter four which just put the 00mph, the highlight, to the particular things that are set whereby you put off the old man. This phrase here 'speak every man truth with his neighbor'  is one of them. The other one appears in verse 26, 'be  angry and sin not.' ' Steal no more' is another one. 'Corrupt communication' is the fourth one.  'Grieve not the  holy spirit' is the fifth one. ' All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking' is  the sixth. And  then  ' be kind' and so forth, is the seventh.

You see, the last phrase in that verse, in King James, For we' re members one of what? [Another] And it' s relative to the neighbor. Now you just look at that. Wherefore put away  lying, speak  every  man truth with his what? [Neighbor] For we are members  one of  another.  That  doesn't  mean just  a neighbor who lives next door, but it has to be a believing neighbor because  we are members  one of what? [Another]. You could not be a member ' one of another' ifhe  was an  unbeliever.  That's how I know this is going to  work. This tells me that the neighbor  is  a  believer.  And  this  ' we' re members one of another' continues the imagery of the Body of Christ.

The literal  according  to  usage of this verse is as follows:   Wherefore  put away the  lie... and I believe in my heart, before I go on with the literal that until man is born again, it's all a lie anyways. And that' s why I believe that this translation will fit in the light of that knowledge. Because when  a man is not born again, his whole  life is just a  lie. Now you're  born again,  and that ' s  why  I think the text states it ' wherefore put away the lie,' the life you' ve been living , the screwed up life you have lived outside of God. It' s been just a life of a lie. It' s not truth. It' s just the opposite of truth and that's my reason for translating it this way... Wherefore put away the lie.

You've got to go with that translation. You have no other text to go by both from Aramaic and Greek it's 'lie.' Not 'lying.' If the Research Department has anything to share in the light of that, I'd be blessed to hear, but you' ve heard my reasons for translating it, Research Department, this way.

Now since they're born again, their whole life is changed, so the life of lying, and living a lie, and being a lie, and being false, is to be put away.

And every man... this is the translation ... and everyone, everyone. The word ' man' you could use because it's an inclusive noun, but I prefer to use the word ' one.'

Wherefore put away the lie and everyone speak the truth with his neighbor for we are members one of another. That is literal according to usage.

Now for the expanded according to understanding. It's not bad. Because of this... What we coughing for? Everybody sick?...Because of this... and the reason I went in the expanded along this line is because verse 24 last week told us that we are created by God in righteousness and in true purity, through holiness. Twenty four.

That's why 25, Wherefore ... 'wherefore' can be translated 'because of this.' Because of this what? Being created in righteousness and truly pure. See it's an inside job.

Because of this being created in righteousness and truly pure by the grace and the love of

God.. .Because of this being created in righteousness and truly pure, you put away, completely lay to rest the lie that you have been and were living and each one of you speak the truth using a quotation from the Word with his believing neighbor for we are members one of another in the Body of the Church.

Robinson {Edward} said, he translated, 'speak every man truth with his neighbor' and he said it's from Zachariah 8:16 which adds force to what is said by using a quote. That's why I translated that. I think that' s great. It adds force to what is said. If you're speaking to someone, it adds force to what you say by using a quote, a quotation from God's Word. In other words, ' you share the Word with them.' That' s why I went with that translation. I want to give it to you again in this sense.

Speak the truth using a quotation from the Word, which means 'share the Word.' Quote the Word to them. Tell them what the Word says, with his believing neighbor. Why? For we are members one of another in the Body of the Church. This verse is just mind blowing.

Here, you have a born-again believer neighbor who needs to grow up a little more. So what do you do? Each one speak the truth to that neighbor, that believer, using the Word, quoting the Word because we' re members one of another in the Body of the Church. It's a real positive thing to do.

Verse 26 in King James reads, Be angry.. .ha ha... we like that one, don't we. Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

Here is a verse of Scripture that' s very, very difficult for most people. And it' s not too easy for us either. But I think we are able to share the truth of the greatness of this and it's been burning in my heart for a long time to do this with our people.

Everybody has problems with ' how can you be angry and not sin?' You know, how can raise hell with something and not be sinful in doing it? Teed off and not be sinful. And how can you go... and what does it mean 'don't let the sun go down upon your wrath?' See.

In the context, here, verses 26 and 27 deal with your believing neighbor, specifically. Then the Greek word for ' anger' which is from the root orge, o-r-g-long-e means 'anger together with the desire of revenge .' That' s bad. That' s a heavy. The Hebrew word means ' to kill, and all the tumults of passion that terminate in killing.' So it's a real heavy word when it said ' be angry.'

And the way I believe it's used in God' s Word, ' be ye angry' means ' it's a long time anger with your believing neighbor until a change has ensued.' The desire to... of revenge is a change. And I, knowing the Word in the light of the new birth, it's where a change finally comes about. Until that time, you just, long-term, you just stay put witnessing the Word, sharing the Word. You do not dislike the believing neighbor; you simply dislike that he is not fully accepting the Word and walking on it. So it' s a long-term anger until a change has ensued. You just stay faithful.

I don't know what else to do with those words. It is a righteous anger. Yet it is a righteous anger without sin.

Among the scholars, there is a disagreement on these words. Well, I don't know about my being a scholar; that I don' t anything about being about. But it's simple to me because righteous anger is commanded by God's Word when it says ' be ye angry.' Well, the scholars can fight about it. I don' t care. It' s a command. Not just permitted to get teed once in a while when somebody' s off of God' s Word, a believer is off of God's Word. You' re always teed off righteously at any believer, born-again believer, who is off of God' s Word. And for those of us in the Way Ministry, it' s been a lifetime.

Get into it with them on... Oh what subject do you want to talk about? Baptism? Food? One God? See. All that stuff.

The Aramaic is accurate in the words ' and sin not.' It literally translates ' and you will not sin.' Again, this ' be angry and sin not' is that figure gnome. Quotation. A citation from the Old Testament. It' s from Psalm 4:4. But in King James, Psalm 4:4, it's translated 'stand in awe.' The real sense of the Hebrew is ' one of admonition;' sin not. Where we' re admonished to not sin. Sin not.

' Let not the sun go down on your wrath. ' Ha ha. That again is beautiful. People went to bed when the sun went down, when it got dark. That's when they went to bed. So what that simply is saying, ha ha, ' don't go to bed teed off.' Don' t let the sun go down on your wrath. In other words, go to bed; don' t go to bed mad. ' When you go to bed' is what it means. Let not the sun go down when you go to bed. And they went to bed when the sun went down. When it got dark, they went to bed, see.

' Upon your wrath.' And the word ' wrath' here is basically ' irritation.' Ha ha. Previously when I taught Ephesians, I made mention of this fact, ' don' t let righteous anger shake you, wondering if it was right on. When you go to bed, go to sleep.'

Now, this is what we have done with it in the literal, ha ha, according to usage. I got more papers up here than Carter has liver pills, or something. Then, I can' t find my... whatever it is I take off of it.

Okay, verse 26. You be righteously angry.. .this is literal according to usage.. .and you will not be sinning. Don't go to bed even with a momentary irritation, ha ha.

I don't think you get nearly as much fun out of this as I do. It's neat. It's absolutely scrumptious, see. At the opening, is that heavy word, remember? Anger. So it's a real heavy time. So what he is saying, in the heavy time, when your standing on God' s Word  and sharing that with the  believing  neighbor, you' re righteously angry... you're not sinning. And  you don't  even go to  bed with a momentary irritation. In other Words, when you go to bed, thank God the day is over. Say your last prayer and start snoring.

Boy, that would save a lot of sleeping pills, wouldn' t it? Practicing that principle. Boy, oh boy, what a tremendous Word. And hardly anybody understands verse 26. They argue about it, but they don' t get the understanding.

Now this is the expanded one according to understanding, I hope. And again, I would like to just lay some things before the Corps, and especially before the Research Department. I translated the first part of verse 26, You always stay angry with an all-out desire to have them to change which anger will not be sin on your part.

Then I have another translation of that first part of it: You be righteously angry, 'teed off' with sin... 'Teed off' I put in quotes. But don't  you sin  by acting  ' holier than thou'  vaunting  yourself  by acting so righteously like you never sin.

I do not know which one of those two the Research Department feels would be the better. The last part of the phrase that I translated which would go with both of these that I have given you here on the expanded one for understanding. This, the last part, goes with that first one and with the second ... also.. .even if it is only a momentary irritation.  When you go to  bed, go to sleep. That's what I did with it.

Now, verse 27. King James says, Neither (or neither) give place to the Devil. The word 'place' is simply a portion, a part. No believer will give full place to the Devil, but he may be giving a part, a portion. He' ll mark off a spot, ' this is Devil' s permission over here, over here, no permission, you know. And you really give the Devil a portion or a spot if you stew about it after you go to bed and you toss and you tum and can' t sleep.

This word 'the Devil,' ' the Devil' in the Aramaic is a very interesting and exciting Word to me and it blesses my heart. It' s a compound word where the first part means ' to eat' or ' to devour.' The latter

' to slander' or ' to accuse. '  So when I got to translating  this, literally according  to usage, verse 27 reads: Do not give any portion or space or an opportunity to the Devil. So I used those three words synonymously: portion, space, opportunity. Do not give any portion or space or an opportunity to the Devil.

The expanded according to understanding: And you will not give a toehold, an opportunity or an occasion for the Devil to eat you. Ha ha. I get more fun than you ever will out of working this stuff, huh.

You see, and to me, that communicates to my understanding. John 10:10. The thief cometh not but for to what? [Steal, kill, and destroy] Right. To eat you out. To beat you. And that's why that Aramaic word, on the word ' Devil' really thrilled me.

And that ' s why I put it into the expanded translation: And you will not give a ' toehold.' Now, at L.E.A.D., you know how important it is to get a what? [Toehold] Ha ha. And when you' re really climbing in, you' re blessed for a toehold. How thankful you are when you get a foothold. Now the adversary can never get a foothold in a believer' s life until he first has a toehold. That's why I translated it that way.

Do not give... and you will not give a toehold ... shave all the rocks off... an opportunity or an occasion for the Devil to eat you. And that' s exactly what he likes to do to believers.

Now we go to verse 28. King James says, Let him that stole steal not more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. And here again, is another great work that I believe should be in our research journal GMIR, Walter' s work on " Workers for God."

It' s just tremendous where he... you know... he just goes into God' s men are called many things in the Word. They' re called: fellow workers, ministers, or servants, slaves, fellow slaves, partners, messengers, soldiers, fellow soldiers, athletes, fellow athletes, stewards, ambassadors, witnesses, all of those. And he covers them so beautifully. And I love very much how he covered the word ' slave,' because it' s a much stronger word than to be a minister, or to be a servant. It is to be one who is branded, marked out, sold out. And baby, from that day on, there are no ifs, and' s, or but' s. You never budge on it. You are branded. Most believers are never branded. They may be servants, they may be ministers, but they are not branded. When you' re branded, you stay faithful. You do not budge. You do not change. You stay put. If all hell breaks loose, you still live the believing Word.

I think the prophet once said, If I was in the midst of hell, God I know you' d be there. (Psalm 139:8) He' d be there. That' s the doulos. That, of course, is just a tremendous piece of work.

And the other great part that I think... and this is a second piece that I want the Corps to master before next Wednesday night, " Workers for God," the work on ' witness.' You see, it's the same word basically that's translated ' martyr,' see. And we got a lot of those canonized. That's not at all what a witness is. A witness is a living example, not a dead one. The word 'martyr' simply means that you lay down your life in witnessing. And boy, when you put the doulos together with ' witness,' then you' ve got power for abundant living. It's just a fantastic work by Walter and I' m real grateful that it was published. Because once it' s in print, people can take a look at it if they want to.

I'd like a cup of coffee, please.

Now, we are in verse 28. The Aramaic translation is ' and he who was stealing.' I understand it from the English, ' let him that stole,' past tense. The Aramaic is real simple, real strong. ' And he, the one who is born again, who was, past tense, stealing.'

Thank you.

His whole life was one of those before he was born again.

Whenever you bring a cup of coffee to a right-hand man, you put the handle to the right. When you serve a cup of coffee to a left-hand man, you put it on the left-hand side and put the handle to the left. Corps principle number seven or something, ha ha. Mrs. Wierwille would say, Well, be thankful you even get a cup of coffee. [Laughter] Ah, you're wonderful.

See, ' let him who stole, steal no more.' 'Stole and steal,' that' s a figure of speech and is polyptoton p-o-l-y-p-t-o-t-o-n. It' s a repetition of the same root word in different parts of speech or reflections. But, that's not earth shaking right now in my heart.

You see, in some Eastern culture, it was not considered a sin or a shame to steal because that's the way they lived, the only way they lived. Somebody told me... or not only told me, one of our people, but it was in a national magazine, that the basic culture of Russia today is to steal. And in some respects I can understand this. If you don't have anything and you're starving to death and there' s a loaf of bread you can get a hold of... steal the dam thing. I understand that.

So this verse is really sharp, really sharp. Let him who stole, even though that man previously considered it the way to live and there was no shame in it, no sin in it. He said, Well, let that fellow who stole, steal no more. Something has happened on the inside of that man. Something that happened, where He is able to meet all of our need according to His riches in glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. More than conquerors.

A record in the Old Testament, I forget where it is, but it's in there, that it' s never, you never need to borrow or steal bread or... what is that in the Old Testament? Begging bread. One person stand and tell me. {Psalm 37:25, I have been young and now am old; yet have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread.} Psalm 27:25 who? {Psalm 37:25} 37:25. All the years, he's never seen the righteous to have to do what? {Beg bread} Beg bread.

First of all, I wish the Christian world could hear this. Secondly, I wish our government in the United States could understand it. The Word says, If you don't work, you don' t eat. A lot of that stuff. Well, what we've been doing is stealing from the people who are willing to work to give to the people who don' t want to work. That's a bunch of crap. That's stealing. That's why this verse is so hot in my soul tonight. Let him who stole, quit stealing, dang it. See.

Many years ago I was really knocked for a loop along some of this line in India, from Dr. Williams. I think he loved India maybe like I love the United States, I don' t know. Because only a man knows how much he loves his own country, I guess.

But... as we were traveling together, he said to me, Dr. Wierwille, I hear you have whores in the United States.

You know, I never had given it a thought. I just took it for granted. [Laughter] And I said, yeah. He said, Why does a rich country like the United States have whores?

And I said, I don't know.

And he said, I can't understand it. Cannot your women make enough money to live? Yeah, but they figure that' s cheaper and more pleasurable or something, I don' t know. And he said, Well, I think it's sinful that the United States has whores.

And I said, What do you mean?

And he said to me, why, I can understand India. He said we don' t enough food, we don' t have enough of anything hardly for a lot of people. And we have whores because that' s the only way they can continue to live physically.

And I thought to myself, well boy, that' s slapping me in the face good. And I took it as a wonderful lesson. There is no excuse in the United States for any women being a whore because she doesn' t need to get screwed and paid for it in order to get money so she can live. There's plenty of work available and if there isn' t she ought to get born again, then there' s a guarantee of work. ..other work, available. I tell you, when you' re honest, some of these men in other countries have some real logic behind their thinking. How would you have liked to have handled that? I just simply admitted, Well, I think we' re wrong in the United States. But I said, I think you' re wrong in India, too, because no reason to have whores here if you get them born again.

So I don' t know. But this verse today as I worked the final working on this verse 28 is when my heart really went back and burned with that truth that Dr. Williams had stated. Because in many Eastern cultures, it was not considered as sin or as shame to steal, if it was a matter of livelihood. You sometimes wonder who will live in the greatest condemnation before God and justice and judgment when the time comes.

For in most of what are called poor countries even, there is sufficient money, food, and other things for the people to live if those in positions of authority were not so selfish and egotistical, and want it for themselves , and let the rest of the world die... or a country die.

The word ' labor' in verse 28 is the word which literally means ' hard work resulting in fatigue.' That's how I felt coming from the woods last night. And I didn' t do anything. It was just hard work being there with the rest of you. Today I got so tired of being with some, I came home. Ah, you' re wonderful.

' Working with his hands' is an Eastern cultural type of thing. Today in our culture, you could have it, you know, the truth is working with your mind or working with your hand, whatever you' re working at. But in Eastern culture, every son was to be trained to work with his hands, even if he was the son of a king. Had to learn a trade, a profession of business.

Jesus Christ was a saddle maker. He made them to ride, I guess, what do you want? Tennessee Walkers , or? See. I think not only did he do that, Paul did it, too, you know. Someday I'm going to find a...or Walter, or some of those, are going to find me a manuscript to prove it. .. and a wonderful carpenter by trade. Many times doing carpentry work and being a saddle maker were sort of in the same household, because building carpentry and having saddles to use for their business and carrying on, were very, very closely aligned. Well, I won' t argue the point, but I wish we' d keep looking.

II Thessalonians.. .Do your hands ever get so dry you can hardly hold anything? Golly, mine are so dry tonight, I wonder why? II Thessalonians, chapter 3:10... this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he what? [Eat] Right. Even unemployment is no excuse for stealing. He just doesn' t eat. Goes and gets work. Boy, when I first saw the greatness of these principles many years ago, and then of course, I uniquely by God' s grace, inculcated that into our W.O.W. program and very dynamically in the Corps leadership.

ROMANS 15:13
May 21, 1980
Romans 15:13
This verse concludes the main portion of the great Romans epistle, and we have been
dealing with the love of God in the renewed mind without hypocrisy. This verse says, “the
God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” We are to have the love of God
in renewed mind in manifestation without hypocrisy right now so as to receive abundant
rewards throughout all eternity. We’re going to have the love of God in renewed mind
without hypocrisy at the time of the return of Christ, the hope, the future. If we’re going to
have it in the future, why not have it now. Having it now you lay up for yourself rewards
that will be given to you throughout all eternity.
Whenever last words are given, all of the rest of the Word is great too no question about it,
but the last words like when I know of a prophet and that was his last year upon earth then
those last words, remember Jacob blessed his children on his death bed. Then he laid down
and died. Very significant. This being the verse that concludes the great foundational
church epistle of the book of Romans stands tremendous in my mind.
Like in Luke 24, just before Jesus Christ ascended.
Luke 24:49
You and I as Corps know how significant that verse was when he gave it, how tremendous.
Acts 1:4, 5, 9
Romans 15:13 is the verse that concludes the main part of the great book of Romans.
This all basically deals with rewards, and so we are spiritual athletes, Corps. We are
athletes that play to win. We’re not athletes that go out here and play to get defeated. An
athlete determines to win. You play to win. In a race you run to win. Whenever you do a
piece of work, you work to be successful.
Romans 15:13
“the God of hope” – All the critical Greek texts have “the” in front of “hope.” It’s not God
of a hope. It’s God of “the hope,” the God of hope. We in this life so live knowing we are
going to win and be rewarded.
I want to read a few extra verses here to get you to see the impact of this, that it is our
responsibility as believers to so run, to so live that we are rewarded, that we win.
I Corinthians 9:16
“necessity is laid upon me” – It’s also laid upon the Corps. You’ve had more teaching than
perhaps anybody else since the first century of the integrity and accuracy of God’s Word.
And that makes you responsible for what you do with it. Woe is you if you don’t preach
the gospel, if you don’t hold it forth. It’s absolutely necessary for you to hold forth the
Word.
I Corinthians 9:17
If I do this willingly, I’m rewarded. But if against my will, I just lose rewards. Then you
just do it because it’s a job or somebody says to do it. You don’t do it because of the love
of God in renewed mind without hypocrisy.
“dispensation” – administration, oikonomia
I Corinthians 9:18
“without charge” – means to anybody, everybody; not just to the doctors or to the dentists
or other people, governors, presidents. He made the gospel available to everybody.
I Corinthians 9:19
“servant” – doulos
“gain the more” – not only of people but of rewards, because if you’re faithful you gain
people and every time you gain people it’s a reward to you.
I Corinthians 9:20, 21
I Corinthians 9:22
“weak” – immature; He didn’t lord it over them and say, “Look at me, I’m a Branch leader.
That attitude is totally foreign to God and His Word if you want a reward.
“save” – make whole
I Corinthians 9:23, 24
I Corinthians 9:25
“temperate” – contained
“crown” – garland
I Corinthians 9:26
I Corinthians 9:27
Discipline yourself, holding forth the Word. You can get tempted to not keep yourself in
subjection to the Word, then you’ll wander off and not teach the rightly divided Word and
won’t stay in fellowship with believers. You cop out of that.
“I myself should be a castaway.” – The rest of the text should read, “from the rewards.”
Not a castaway that he loses eternal life, but he’s cast away to the end that he does not
receive the rewards.
Philippians 2:16
He labors to win the rewards, the hope.
Hebrews 12:1, 2
patience – with ease, second wind
There was no joy in the cross. There’s no joy in persecution. There’s no joy in being sick.
Romans 15:13
“the God of hope” – That’s what I’ve just been sharing with you. He’s the God of hope
because of Jesus Christ, and it’s the running of the race, carrying on the word because of
the rewards throughout all eternity with the return of Christ that makes it so exciting.
“fill you” – It’s always a personal deal, Corps. God always meets your need personally
first. Always you. You confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Remember? God is an
individual God dealing with individual believers. God fills you.
“fill” – root is plēroō, to fill to your fullest capacity. We’re talking about the rewards, the
hope. Regarding the hope we get filled with, filled to capacity. God fill you because of the
hope. You’ll see this before I finish the teaching tonight, because it’s all in the rewards.
Rewards are given for your faithfulness to God and His Word to the full capacity. Not
overflowing, it’s just the reward for that.
Fill you to your full capacity. If you’ve got a five gallon bucket, how much can you put in
it? It’s full. If you’ve got ten gallons, put ten gallons in it. Plēroō can never put any more
in than the container is capable of receiving.
It reminds me of the parable about the thirty, sixty and hundred fold. The thirty caliber
person, when that man is full, how full is he? Full. The one with sixty has done his full
potential, and when he’s full, he’s what? Full.
That’s why there are just some people who have more ability. The Word of God has been
made known more to you than to some people. Same people accept more of the Word. I
don’t know the whole deal. But I know a five gallon bucket is full when it’s five gallons. If
you’re a thirty percent person, so to speak, when that thirty percent is full, you’re full. You
receive the same rewards before God because you have operated to your maximum ability.
Likewise with sixty, likewise with hundred. But the human tendency is that if your best
would be thirty, you give fifteen. If it’s sixty, you give twenty. If it’s hundred, you try to
get away with fifty-one percent. You lose the rewards.
The hope of God is to fill you to full capacity in rewards. Doing it right now as you and I
are still living here fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Joy is an inside job.
Happiness is dependent upon environment, surroundings, material things. Many people
have material things and are happy, but they lack joy. ‘People have happiness on the
outside commit suicide. But if you have the joy on the inside, the external loses all that
great glitter. Joy is a much bigger thing than happiness. Joy is in inside job.
The God of the hope fill you to full capacity, not only in the hope but fill you to full
capacity now because if you are full to capacity now, you’ll have the full capacity of the
rewards. Understand?
You lose the joy when you break fellowship. That’s when the joy is gone. Whenever
people break fellowship, they’ll blame everybody else but themselves. They’ll say there’s
something wrong with you or the ministry. They’ll always have an excuse. I’ve never seen
anyone to this day leave the fellowship of the greatness of God’s Word unless they have
sinned. Sin is broken fellowship. Then you lose the rewards.
Peace is something that God gave to us.
Romans 5:1
Joy is an inside job. Peace is something God gave to us by His mercy and by His grace.
“Peace” is used eleven times in Romans, and every usage is fantastically significant.
Romans 15:13
Fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
Psalm 139:8
If you’re in the midst of hell, God’s going to be there. That’s joy and peace in believing, if
you’re in the midst of a community where you’re serving and it’s as the midst of hell, God
is still there. The reason you get disturbed about your joy and peace is the environment.
Not the Word, not God.
You’re in an environment and it’s negative. Then you go by what the world says rather
than by what the Word says. It says we have peace with God. If it’s totally unpeaceful, we
still are peaceful. If there is no joy out there among the people, we still have the joy. We
are not world conditioned or circumstance conditioned. We are Word conditioned.
Romans 15:13
“that ye may abound in hope” – Wraps the whole book of Romans with the revelation or
appearing or return of Jesus Christ. Abound in hope.
“abound” – means over and beyond; That you may over and beyond, abound in hope. This
is what makes for the present joy and peace in believing. The joy and peace in believing is
made available now that you may abound, over and beyond, because of the hope of
Christ’s return and the rewards, the winning. In a race, only one wins. In God’s family,
everybody is a winner, thirty, sixty, hundred fold. Everybody is a winner.
“through” – by means of
“power” – dunamis; inherent power, which God works in you when you work. That’s what
produces the rewards.
I made a not of the following after I’d worked all of this—Sort of translating it very freely
and thinking of the truth behind the verse.
Now the God of the hope, the one and only hope, Jesus Christ and his return, who created
soul life for Jesus Christ at the time He created this within Mary, who also gave him that
spiritual body at the time of the resurrection, then seated him in the heavenlies on the
ascension. Then on the day of Pentecost sent forth this which ye now see and hear. And
then he, Christ within us, the works I do ye shall do also, all of that. Then it goes all the
way down to the return.
If I translated this very freely, I’d have to have a whole page to put all that stuff in. So I
just gave you the salient truths of it and let you work it yourself and see how you feel in
your heart regarding all these great truths.
He being the God of hope, Jesus Christ His only begotten son, the one who always did the
Father’s will, all of this stuff fits in this verse, that you may abound, right now in this life.
Sometimes I think the Corps, we allow ourselves to get bogged down with the world or
environment or situations. Nothing should ever stop us from living joyfully with peace in
our heart, because we have Christ in us and we have the hope. We’ve got something going.
The Adversary has pretty well talked everybody out of this. That’s the Word. That’s this
great thirteenth verse that wraps up the book of Romans, the main part of it.
Once more, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may
abound in hope.” I want to tell you, unless you have the hope of Christ’s return, you’re
going to be defeated. If you are just laying up for today or tomorrow, you’re going to
screw up, blow it, you’re not going to stand. The only people that could ever stand have to
be those people who live today like tomorrow is already here, have the hope of the return,
the rewards, everything. When you’re real logical, just think it through. Right now I know
all of you are thinking you’re never going to die, that you’ll live forever. You’ve never
even thought of anything else. But another sixty years and you’ll think a little differently if
the Lord tarries. Let’s say you live to be eighty-nine. Compared to eternity, what’s that?
Very few years. Suppose you live as old as Methuselah (969)? How long is eternity? Okay,
the rewards. Man, we have everything going. We ought to just stay faithful. If you cop out
on God and His Word, no matter what excuse you use, God will know. You’re going to
lose it, the rewards. And all you’re going to get out of it basically is what you’ll get out of
this life. God made it for rewards, to win, to be a winner, not a loser. God has no second
rate family. He has no win, no place, no show. Win only. That’s right. So everybody wins.
Some, however, will get thirty, sixty, a hundred. There again, all of those things God will
give.
Well, that’s the great thirteenth verse.
I thought tonight also I’d just give you my thoughts of the day. Craig Martindale once
referred to them as Dr. Wierwille’s one liners. Usually they are one-liners, sometimes it
takes a few more words. These are the kind of things that came to my heart daily as I work
the Word, etc.
I was thinking the other day about the experience KU. I thought about “lonely in the crowd
of the closeness of so many distant souls..” How lonely same of those people were that
were there in the closeness of so many distant souls. That’s why God has a family. Psalm
68:6 says, “God setteth the solitary in families.” Without that family you’ll always be
lonely. Who is my father, mother, etc., those that do the will of God in the family.
Then another thought of the day. “Good taste dictates discretion in action.” Again I was
thinking of KU and a number of things that I saw prompted me in thinking good taste
dictates discretion in action. The signs were one thing. Another was a man getting his
doctor’s license, uncorking the champagne in front of all the people and pouring it into the
glass and drinking it and passing the champagne to a few other people. All during the time
of the service, he sat there drinking out of that champagne bottle.
Read and believe the media of the Word more than the written, seeing and hearing media
of the world. Subsequently, the Word rejectors. Give your best to be the best. Be aware
when the need is there. I cannot believe for you, but can believe with you. Only way to
move the Word is to move it. The first time may be your only opportunity. Have your mind
well arranged. Reckon the old man dead, not just ignore him. Can’t love others fully until
you love yourself.
I was thinking of the following and wrote it regarding a double tree we put on the snack
shop at International. Being yoked together and pulling together as one team.
Misunderstandings are usually the result of poor communication. Delegating responsibility
does not release you of the responsibility. Learning not to quit. She or he is so busy in life,
she or he have time only when life and living becomes an emergency. Most people treat
God like this. How much you love and care will communicate how much you know. He
could do, but doesn’t love himself enough to do. A man doesn’t understand, doesn’t want
to or doesn’t pay attention.
A Corps person, writing to me recently about L.E.A.D., said, “While climbing, I clung
onto my retemories like once I clung to my rosary beads.”
Someone else wrote me saying, “I’m thankful for the moment God places me in your path
and the attention and love you give me.”
That is all I’m going to do with you.